#ExploringSocial: Facebook for FMCG Brands
Today we’re really proud to launch our #ExploringSocial series of industry reports. Over the course of 2016 (and beyond…) you can look forward to many more of these reports, as we look to really make the most of the wealth of data that BORN SOCIAL are tapped into on a daily basis.
The report that we are launching today focuses on how FMCG brands can make the most out of Facebook. FMCG brands have been a key part of BORN SOCIAL’s client base since we started, and the industry is so fast-moving that we thought this would be a perfect place to start. Saying that, we believe that the insights we have uncovered are also highly relevant to a much wider audience.
We chose to look into Facebook as a platform for one simple reason — because it’s the subject of so much fierce debate at the moment.
“Is organic reach dead?”
“Are young people leaving Facebook?”
“Is Facebook moving towards becoming a video platform?”
These are just three questions that we get asked on a regular basis. We hope that this report helps to shed some light on these questions and more.
You can find the full report here — and please get in touch if you have any questions, queries, or you just want to discuss any of the findings. You can use the #ExploringSocial hashtag on Twitter, or you can tweet us at @bebornsocial or @callummccahon.
The report covers four main areas — Audience, Content, Reach and Engagement. Here are a few of our key findings:
Audience
- Women are 13.7% more likely to ‘like’ a brand on Facebook than men — and they are 43.1% more likely to like an FMCG brand on Facebook than men. FMCG brands looking to target women are well placed on Facebook.
- 18–24 year olds are 11% less likely than 25–34 year olds to like a brand on Facebook, and 21% less likely to like an FMCG brand in particular. 25–34 year olds are the most engaged age group on Facebook.
Content
- Don’t just feature your product in your content — you need to go beyond this and tap into the lifestyle of your target audience, as well as incentivising them to engage.
- We found that one share from a high quality influencer is much more valuable in terms of reach and engagement than lots of low quality shares. You should try and guarantee shares from influencers ahead of time when running a competition or announcing a new product, for example.
Reach
- Organic reach has more than halved in the last 24 months. In December 2013 we were reaching, on average, 17.8% of audience per post — that figure has dropped to just 6.4% as of December 2015. We’re well and truly in the era of pay-to-play on Facebook.
- It’s been well documented that Facebook is moving in the direction of more video, and we found data that backs this up. Videos allow you to maximise your organic reach — we found that you would reach 8.84% of your audience per post with a video — compared to 6.4% for normal content. If you have a large audience, this extra reach will give you a significant boost.
- The peak time for reaching an FMCG audience is 9pm — this is when almost 50% of the average audience are active and online on Facebook. Posting a few hours before this will help to take advantage of this — giving your content a chance to build momentum ahead of this peak.
Engagement
- We found that engagement rates on Facebook appear to be on a downward trend. In 2014 our average engagement rate for FMCG brands was 9.7% — in 2015, we found that it had dropped to 7.8%. We believe that this could be a signal that audiences are less willing to engage with brands on Facebook — and as marketers, we must do more to add real value to our audiences.
To find out more, head here to download the full report. Enjoy!
